24 teams in 24 days — Day 12: Team Tirinzoni
We’re profiling all 24 teams, one per day, to get ready for the return of the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling leading up to the start of the Humpty’s Champions Cup.
Day 12: Team Tirinzoni
Lineup: Silvana Tirinzoni (skip, third stones), Alina Pätz (vice skip, fourth stones), Esther Neuenschwander (second), Melanie Barbezat (lead)
Home club: CC Aarau; Aarau, Switzerland
Tirinzoni is the reigning world women’s curling champion and defending Humpty’s Champions Cup women’s champion. The Swiss squad captured both titles in 2019. Team Tirinzoni struck gold at the worlds with an 8-7 victory over Sweden’s Team Hasselborg in an extra end with Pätz shooting an outstanding 94 per cent.
Tirinzoni took the Humpty’s Champions Cup with a 6-3 victory over Team Einarson in the women’s final in Saskatoon. It was her second career Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling title after winning the inaugural Tour Challenge Tier 1 women’s championship in 2015. Tirinzoni stole two points in the eighth end to edge Team Homan 6-5 in the “fog bowl” final in Paradise, N.L.
The 2019 Humpty’s Champions Cup was the third appearance in a Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling women’s final that season for the club and was the first title in the series for Pätz and Barbezat, who both joined Team Tirinzoni ahead of the 2018-19 campaign. Pätz also won the world championship in 2012 as the alternate to Mirjam Ott and skipped her own squad to gold in 2015. She also captured the world mixed doubles gold medal in 2011 with Sven Michel.
The Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling returns with the Humpty’s Champions Cup, April 14-18, followed by the Princess Auto Players’ Championship, April 20-25. Both events will be played at Calgary’s WinSport Arena and closed to the general public. Watch live coverage on Sportsnet, stay tuned for the broadcast schedule.